Camera Constructs

Photography and modern architecture have a mutual resonance. Architectural form provides the camera with the subject for some of its most compelling imagery, while photography profoundly influences how architecture is represented, imagined and produced. The title Camera Constructs on the one hand opposes the medium of photography and the materiality of construction, but on the other can be read as saying that the camera invariably constructs what it depicts: the photograph is not a simple representation of an external reality, but constructs its meaning and reconstructs its subject. The starting point of many of the authors in this book is to analyse this condition and illuminate its processes: the photographic practices of the artist, of the architect and of the documentarist are each seen to construct images highly specific in their context and meaning. Twenty-three essays by a wide range of historians and practitioners (including two each by Higgott and Wray) are grouped under the themes of ‘Modernism and the Published Photograph’, ‘Architecture and the City Re-imagined’, ‘Interpretative Constructs’ and ‘Photography in Design Practices.’ They are preceded by an introduction that comprehensively outlines the subject and elaborates on the diverse historical and theoretical contexts of the authors’ approaches. The publication evolved out of an international academic conference, held in 2006 at the University of East London School of Architecture and the Visual Arts, which fostered interdsiciplinary collaboration between architects, artists, historians and theoreticians.

Section I, ‘Modernism and the Published Photograph’, focuses on the role played by published photographs in the formation of Modernist practices of architectural design. It explores the creative synergy between the two, the ways in which the printed page became a contested site for architects to set out their visions, and the ways in which conventional representations of architecture can curtail alternative readings and suppress rival design approaches.

Section II, ‘Architecture and the City Re-imagined’, sets out a number of interpretative structures that interrogate photography in terms of specific philosophical, political and social constructs, with a profound impact on how buildings and cities are imagined. Various photographic practices are examined, including aerial photography, photographic surveys, online navigational tools and the photography of architectural models.

Section III, ‘Interpretative Constructs’, examines the work of a number of artist-photographers who demonstrate differing approaches to architectural subject matter, beyond the conventions of mainstream architectural photography. Their various aesthetic, social, personal, conceptual and historical interpretations not only demonstrate multitudinous responses to the subject, but also suggest possibilities for reimagining what constitutes architecture per se.

Section IV, ‘Photography in Design Practices’, studies a range of interdisciplinary and collaborative practices which, using techniques such as montage, stereography and the construction of special cameras, break free from the naturalizing effect of the image and go beyond documenting and interpreting built works, to radically engage with design processes.

Edited by Andrew Higgott & Timothy Wray, published 2012